When you breathe the strange, rarified air that surrounds all things Apple, it’s hard to know what to believe. Thereupon, if San Francisco’s finest, or at least their spokesman, are believable, then the story of the second lost iPhone prototype has come to a swift and inglorious end, but not before providing a few laughs.

Pass the salt, please

SF Weekly tracked down San Francisco Police Department spokesman Office Albie Esparza and asked him about the story that city detectives accompanied Apple personal to the home of a person of interest, questioned that individual and even performed a search of the residence.

“I talked to [News.com]” reporter Declan McCullagh, Esparza said. “I don’t know who his source is, but we don’t have any record of any such an investigation going on at this point.”

No records of anyone at the Mission or Ingleside stations doing any such things. Moreover, department dispatchers have no records of any such activities or incidents.

Yes, News.com did say that no police report had been filed in the case and Esparza’s statements can be parsed a hundred different ways.

José Cuervo is a friend of mine…

So, Apple didn’t lose another iPhone in another bar? Well, don’t expect Apple to say anything on the subject one way or the other…

Back to your knitting, or tequila if you prefer, boys and girls. The first round’s on Gray Powell…